Authtor's Notes: Yay! I'm updating extra early! Lol, my brithday left me on high spirirts and lots of inspiration. Aren't you guys lucky? Well, anyway I won't keep you from the next chap for much longer but did anyone happen to guess that Mikan and Natsume were kinda set up in the last chap? XD Sneaky, sneaky Hotaru...

Read, review, and most of all ENJOY!

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Chapter 6

Rain and Tears

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"Are you going to stare out that window all day?"

I forced myself to rip my gaze away from the falling rain outside and turned to face Hotaru, a frown on my face.

"Sorry."

She stared at me quietly, trying to read me I guess, and I turned away. My eyes traveled over the classroom to once again settle on Natsume's empty seat. The uncomfortable feeling in my stomach deepened.

I turned back to stare out the window, trying to push away my worried thoughts but wincing when lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rattled the windowpane. I'd woken up feeling strangely unsettled but had quickly chalked it up to a lack of sleep or something but the feeling had only continued to grow as I arrived to class with Hotaru to find Natsume's seat empty and everybody else staring gloomily outside at the pouring rain.

"Are you worried about him?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, turning to face Hotaru yet again. As soon as her calculating violet eyes met mine I quickly looked away, afraid she'd able to see the worry inside me.

"About who?" I forced myself to say, eyes not meeting hers. The raven haired girl didn't reply this time but simply turned back to work on the invention lying in her lap.

We didn't talk for the rest of the class.

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I walked out of the school, my eyes scanning the crowd of kids exiting. The cold wind blew in my face and pushed my ponytails into my face and, with a scowl, I brushed them back again. Finally my gaze alighted on a blond haired boy carrying a small rabbit in his hands and I ran over to him.

"Ruka!"

"Oh, Mikan," he turned towards me and smiled, though I could tell it was a bit strained. The anxiousness inside me rose once again and my frown deepened.

"Where's Natsume?" I demanded and almost instantly he winced at my bluntness.

"He's…away at the moment," was his answer.

"Where?"

"Somewhere."

I let out a frustrated sigh and tugged on one of my ponytails as Ruka quickly excused himself and left before I could object. Our last class had ended just a few minutes ago and as I lingered behind I had overheard Hotaru and Yuu's hushed conversation and the snatches that I'd managed to hear had bothered me.

"another one…?"

"..it's none of our business."

"..I wonder what kind of missions though…"

I'd hoped to get something out of Ruka, since he was usually very agreeable and open- not to mention Natsume's best friend, but my plan had failed. I trudged towards the outskirts of the forest and sat down under a shady tree as I wondered about what was going on. Natsume hadn't shown up for any of our classes, no one had seen him all day. Where the heck was he?

A part of me, the logical part I guess, couldn't help but wonder why I cared so much that he wasn't around. I ignored it. All I could feel right now was a great unease about the ruby eyes boy's sudden disappearance and didn't particularly care about figuring out why. At least for now. I'd come to realize that if I questioned almost everything I did, I'd need more hours to the day to figure out why I did these things. No, it was better not to think about it.

Green invaded my vision as my attention snapped back to the present and I realized I'd gone into the forest. I looked around nervously and it wasn't long before I realized I was completely lost. Sighing, I turned and tried to retrace my steps through but the tall grass blocked any signs of my footsteps from sight and before I knew it I felt light drops of water fall against my head as it began to rain again.

I yelped when the drizzle turned into a downpour and the fat drops crashed against me, thunder rumbling. Pushing branches aside I tried to look through the heavy downpour for any sign of a path leading out of the forest but I could not see and so I just continued to trudge forward, now officially soaked to the bone.

"Hello?" my voice sounded weak even to my own ears and was soon blocked out by the thunder above, I shivered. "Is anybody there!"

I moved forward again then cried out as my foot caught on something large and I fell forward, my hands sinking into the muddy ground below me as a sharp pain shot up my leg. Groaning, I turned to look back to see what I had tripped over and felt my heart skip a beat then nearly stop as my gaze met with ruby red ones. I suddenly felt dizzy and tired and, though my throat was suddenly parched, I managed a surprised gasp.

"Natsume!"

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I felt like I was freezing and my ankle seemed to burn with pain but I ignored it and continued to wobble forward, dragging the slumping Natsume with me. The rain had lessened a bit but it still fell fast, making the ground below a muddy mess. Luckily, I could just slightly see the outline of what seemed to be an empty cave not too far away and continued forward.

"Come on, Natsume. We're almost there," I whispered but he gave no reply. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself harder, fueled by the questions of just how bad his condition was and the fear that they'd get even worse out here in the rain. I managed to get us a few feet into the wide cave before my ankle collapsed under the weight of us both and me and Natsume fell against the hard, cold ground. He groaned softly at the sudden fall and I winced, afraid I'd just made him hurt more.

"Natsume," I reached over to him and shook his hand as my eyes started to droop. I couldn't fall asleep like this, he needed help! I felt tears suddenly fill my eyes and slip down my cheeks as I shook him a bit harder this time. "Natsume…wake up..!"

"M-Mikan…?"

I crawled over slightly and nodded, a small smile gracing my face as hope swelled in me.

"Natsume you have to get up…" I said again and he stared at me through dazed ruby eyes but let me help him into a sitting position. Once I had him lean against the cave wall I took my time looking him over, frowning at the dark bruises on his arms and the cut on the side of his face.

"Mikan…" his voice sounded raspy, tired. I shushed him quietly, turning to rip a piece of the long sleeves of my shirt to clean the cut on his face. I wrung out the soaked piece of material then folded it slightly and moved it over his cut. He winced but remained quiet as I continued to clean him up. Once I was done with that I bit my lip as a blush stole over my cheeks and I wondered how to go about what I had to do next.

"Umm…Natsume..you..err…it's cold..and…-"my blushed heightened but I cleared my throat, eyes determined, and reached for his shirt. Surprisingly he didn't object as I slipped it over his head, maybe he was just too tired to argue, and moved away slightly to wring out the excess water. The front of the cave was blocked by some trees and bushes so it'd be able to keep out most of the cold air away but I knew that wouldn't be enough and I'd need to start a fire soon to keep us warm but as soon as I tried to stand up Natsume's hand grabbed mine in a tight grip.

"Don't go…"

"It's ok, I'll be right back," I quickly hid my surprise at his words and smiled gently and after a while his grip loosened.

I searched further down the cave and managed to find a few loose rocks and some dry thin sticks that must have been blown in by the wind before the rain started. I wobbled back to where Natsume was and mad ea small ring with the bigger rocks I had managed to find then carefully set to starting the fire. I could tell he was watching me but didn't look up to conform it, instead trying to focus on building a small fire. After a few minutes of watching my frustration at not being able to start one he scooted towards me and took the sticks and a small rock and we had a small fire going in less than a minute.

I curled up against the wall beside him and wrapped my arms around myself to keep out the cold as we waited for the fire to grow. My shirt and shorts were soaked but unfortunately I couldn't take them my shirt off like Natsume, I was a girl after all.

"I'm sorry."

His voice rang out, surprising me, and I looked over to see him scowling slightly at the growing fire as he poked at it with a stick.

"What for?" I asked, not quite understanding what, exactly, he was sorry about. He shook his head softly and didn't answer, almost as if he couldn't put it into words. I shivered again and coughed, wrapping my arms tighter around myself as I stared at the fire in front of us.

"Where were you?" I asked him, and cleared my stuffy throat before continuing hesitantly ", I was worried…everyone else seemed to be too." Again he didn't answer and this time I frowned, scooting over so I was closer to him, and shook his arm. He turned to face me and I almost drew back at the intensity of his gaze, an emotion I couldn't understand swirling in its ruby red depths. Something that I did recognize, though, was pain. So much pain.

"I'm sorry," his arms suddenly wrapped around me as he pulled me towards him and my cheek went against his bare shoulder. He was crying, I realized silently when small drops fell into my hair, and for some reason I was too. The tears came suddenly and spilled forward as I curled into his embrace, uncaring of what he might think of me at the moment. "I'm so sorry."

Too many different emotions washed over at me at once, confusing me; a pain I didn't quite understand, fear, an ache in my chest, relief, confusion. And so we cried together, though I think neither of us understood why, and took comfort in each other as the rain lessened and the sky darkened. And in that cave we spent the night, asleep in each other's arms.

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Well, that's chap 6! What'd you guys think? Did you like it? Can anyone take a guess as to why Natsume was so upset, I mean, come on! He ...CRIED gasp lol. But if you can guess it then you'll really be able to amaze me cause only I know whyyyyyyy. You guys will never guess, but I'm sure you'll soon find out in the upcoming chapters. ; )

Kiki